Ireland earned its epithet "the Emerald Isle" through geography: the warm Gulf Stream and Atlantic rainfall combine to produce a shade of green that is genuinely startling. The landscape — soft hills, limestone pavements, Atlantic cliffs — is the country's most immediately striking feature. The human landscape is equally distinctive: the pub culture (the Irish pub is an institution that has been replicated worldwide, though nothing compares to the original), the storytelling tradition, the music (traditional sessions in Clare and Galway are a living art form), and a literary output far exceeding what a country of 5 million would be expected to produce.
Ireland earned its epithet "the Emerald Isle" through geography: the warm Gulf Stream and Atlantic rainfall combine to produce a shade of green that is genuinely startling. The landscape — soft hills, limestone pavements, Atlantic cliffs — is the country's most immediately striking feature. The human landscape is equally distinctive: the pub culture (the Irish pub is an institution that has been replicated worldwide, though nothing compares to the original), the storytelling tradition, the music (traditional sessions in Clare and Galway are a living art form), and a literary output far exceeding what a country of 5 million would be expected to produce.
Dublin is a compact, walkable capital with excellent museums, the Book of Kells at Trinity College, and a nightlife culture centred on Temple Bar and the surrounding streets. The west of Ireland — Galway, the Aran Islands, the Burren, and the Cliffs of Moher — is the most visited rural landscape. The Ring of Kerry and the Wild Atlantic Way are well-marked tourist routes through some of Europe's most dramatic coastal scenery.
